Beth Hill came to the Adirondacks in 2010 to take over as president and CEO of Fort Ticonderoga, and a year later, she joined the ROOST board. She’s been serving on the board ever since then. Beth was born on Long Island and has lived in small communities and big cities all over the world. She has national and international work experience, and she’s been in the museum profession for about 24 years. She has also owned her own business. The Adirondacks, Beth says, are unique from the other places she’s lived in that we have a combination of important assets that other regions would die for: The Adirondacks have so much natural beauty, partnered with a strong, important story to tell. Fort Ticonderoga Beth gets to help tell that story every day through her work at Fort Ticonderoga. People often think of the history of the Adirondacks as that of the High Peaks and central woods regions, which didn’t get penetrated by residents and travelers much until the 1800s. The Lake Champlain Region, though, is an important part of the Adirondacks, and it played a significant role throughout America’s history with strategic military actions taking place at Fort Ticonderoga and other places along the shores of Lake Champlain. The freedoms we have today were defined in part at Fort Ticonderoga, Beth says. Beth and the rest of her staff are looking forward to a busy season at the Fort. They’ve already seen strong numbers since their opening in May, and as they continue to expand their experiences and audience, the Fort has seen growing attendance regularly since 2011. Over the past few years, they have added experiences in the gardens around the Fort, on nearby Mount Defiance, and with popular boat tours on Lake Champlain, making it possible for visitors to spend a whole day, or even multiple days, exploring the Fort’s offerings. Each year, Fort Ticonderoga focuses on a different year in the Fort’s history, and this year will feature 1777, when it was a major supply depot. For more info about what’s new this season at the Fort, click here. ROOST board It didn’t take Beth long after moving here to join the ROOST board, and she’s been serving on it ever since. She’s an energetic voice representing the Lake Champlain Region, recognizing the role that tourism plays both in economic development but also in maintaining and improving the quality of life we enjoy in the Adirondacks. And as the head of one of the major destination attractions in the region, it’s useful to the rest of the board and to ROOST’s staff to have her input and ideas incorporated into the fold. She’s been pleased to see ROOST building regional partnerships and collaborations, which she notes is a goal aligned with the philosophy of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils. In the future, she hopes to see ROOST continue to attract more travelers into the region and help them spend more while enjoying themselves here, as is the goal of any destination marketing organization. She sees that happening both through ROOST’s marketing efforts and also its work in destination development — building experiences and tourism infrastructure in each of our regions so there are enough amenities and experiences to meet demands of the market.

Again this year, Ironman would like to offer each athlete a $25 gift certificate to use at participating area restaurants. • The restaurant gift certificate is valid July 21-25, 2016. • The balance over $25 is the responsibility of the customer. • The $25 gift certificate can be applied to tax. • There is no balance or cash back on any purchase less than $25. • All gift certificates will be submitted, by participating restaurants, to the ROOST office no later than July 29, 2016 for reimbursement. Click here to download the participation form: Ironman Dine Around Application. Return it to Bethany no later than Monday, June 27, 2016 at bethany@roostadk.com.

BBQ, booking, Beth, and business after hours - so much to find out in this week's ROOST news! http://bit.ly/1OsyI1K

This spring, ROOST launched a new booking engine on lakeplacid.com. The engine is now on whitefaceregion.com, soon to be saranaclake.com, and will continue to roll out across all of ROOST's destination websites. The engine utilizes a robust third-party software called Inntopia, which is used to facilitate vacation reservations by many destinations worldwide. But it's probably completely wrong for your business, and here are eight reasons why: 1. It’s for CHEAPSKATES. At only a 5 percent commission on sales and no setup fee or monthly subscription, an account with ROOST doesn’t cost anything unless there’s a booking. So if you prefer to spend a lot more money to do business, ROOST’s booking engine isn’t for you. 2. It funds local marketing efforts. Two and a half percent of your commission goes back into ROOST's marketing efforts to make sure the world knows about the Adirondacks! If you are against sustainable tourism for the benefit of those of us who live here, ROOST’s booking engine isn’t for you. Don't want ANY of these people to know about you! 3. It promotes local business. Unlike most traditional booking sites, ROOST's websites are focused on selling the whole destination. Offering your property or your services as part of the entire destination experience adds visibility for you while supporting the promotion of the whole destination collectively. Elevated awareness about the destination = more traveler interest in the destination = more bookings! If you don’t want more business, ROOST's booking engine probably isn't for you! 4. It works for visitors. Inntopia provides a streamlined and well-designed booking experience for visitors, allowing them to plan and pay for their entire destination itinerary all in one place. If you’d rather make the traveler work hard to make their vacation plans, this booking engine isn’t for you. Definitely don't want to outfit these guys for their next adventure. 5. It works for all types of businesses. Bookings are not only for lodging properties anymore! Inntopia specializes in offering avenues for booking far beyond just lodging. Whether you sell admission tickets, guided trips, rentals, spa treatments, or another service entirely, ROOST’s booking engine will likely work for you. But if you’d rather not be visible to the people looking to add these experiences to their itinerary, you definitely don’t want your products and services to be offered on this booking engine. 6. It brings packaging and promotions to a whole new level. Lodging properties or activity/rental based businesses can offer to partner with each other to offer a packaged product/experience. But each business gets to collect their payments and gets the visitor info independently. Honestly, we couldn't come up with a reason you wouldn't like this one. 7. It pairs well with existing ROOST opportunities. The booking system is designed to work seamlessly with the photo listings currently offered to local businesses on the destination websites. The "book now" button now incorporated into the photo listing strengthens both the value of the listing and the visibility of the booking system. Those wishing to have their businesses left alone without any pesky visitors bothering them should only have a text listing — none of that fancy photo stuff. If you want to keep unpleasant visitors like these away from your business, don't sign up for ROOST's new booking engine. 8. It’s the future of online travel planning. Combined booking of lodging and activities all in one place is the next great frontier of travel planning services. You’ll see a few large companies already offering this service, and ROOST is at the leading edge of this promotional strategy. If you still use a chisel and stone to send messages, this booking engine might not be for you. It’s up to you, but if you insist on using the latest technology that’s user-friendly, inexpensive and will increase the visibility of your business, go ahead and contact Glenn Pareira to set it up. But don’t blame us if you get a whole bunch of reservations. You can contact Advertising and Sales at 518-523-2445 or adsales@roostadk.com.

At one time in her life, Melinda Little thought she would retire to the Adirondacks. But for the last 21 years, she has lived here full time and you could hardly call her retired. Melinda grew up on Long Island, then earned a bachelor’s degree in Art History from Wellesley College and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. She worked in the nonprofit theater world for some time then, when she got the chance to work on a few feasibility studies, she grew interested in marketing. Nowadays, she calls herself a serial entrepreneur. She has run a handful of her own businesses, and she was integral to the creation of Saranac Lake’s Community Store, writing the business plan and serving as president of the operation since the organization started raising money. The store, which is owned by members of the community who bought shares in it, has seen interest wane a tad since the huge burst of initial excitement when it opened and saw tons of national publicity. Sales continue to grow, though there’s a continued challenge to get new feet in the door. But Melinda and her colleagues hope to generate excitement about the Community Store once again with the fifth anniversary of its opening this fall. She also in recent years started as coordinator for Point Positive, an angel investor group that seeks to invest in early stage and startup companies. The group holds two live pitch sessions each year to vet potential companies to work with, and though the group is now a few years old, interest has not dropped off; instead, it has continued to grow. She said she loves being involved with Point Positive. She loves being involved in entrepreneurial pursuits, but she doesn’t have the fire in her belly to start her own, so it’s great to get the chance to be involved in helping get new businesses off the ground. “It’s right up my alley,” she said. Melinda also serves and has served on a variety of local boards. Some of her most impactful work has been with the Pendragon Theatre board, which she has been involved with on and off since the 1980s, and the Tri-Lakes Humane Society, which she has been on the board of since 2006. She got involved in the ROOST board three years ago when local politician Barb Rice asked her to represent the Saranac Lake area on it. Now she’s one of two representatives from Saranac Lake; Origin Coffee Co. owner Jecinda Hughes joined the board this year. Melinda was surprised to learn when she joined the board how much of an impact ROOST has in terms of marketing a diverse but cohesive identity for the region. She loves that her involvement with ROOST gives her a good vantage point for knowing what’s going on throughout the Adirondacks. She knows it’s always a challenge to maintain relationships with the various entities that ROOST has contracts with, so one of her biggest goals is to do anything she can to support keeping those relationships strong and creative.